1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an image output apparatus, an image output method and an image output computer readable medium. More particularly, the present invention relates to an image output apparatus, an image output method and an image output computer readable medium for assisting an observer who observes an observed person.
2. Related Art
A medical system has been proposed which records a medical image in association with observed status information obtained when a medical doctor interprets the medical image (see Patent Document 1, for example). According to the invention disclosed by Patent Document 1, the observed status information recorded includes information regarding a device used for displaying the medical image, the operation history of the displaying device, and point of sight information of the medical doctor. The operation history is used to reproduce how long the medical doctor observes the image. The point of sight information includes information that associates information regarding the line of sight of the medical doctor with a position on the display screen, a time period for which the medical doctor maintains observation with a particular point of sight, and the movement rate of the medical doctor's eyeball. The point of sight information is used to reproduce the position on the medical image the medical doctor pays attention to.
[Patent Document 1] Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-267273
In the course of diagnosing a patient who is an observed person, what plays an important role in knowing the symptoms of the observed person is the movement of the observed person noticed by a medical doctor, who is an observer, while the medical doctor diagnoses the observed person, for example, the movement of the line of sight of the observed person. According to the invention disclosed in Patent Document 1, however, what the observer notices while interpreting the medical image is reproduced based on the observed status information. Therefore, the invention can not reproduce a moving part of the observed person which catches the observer's attention while the observer diagnoses the observed person. There is another problem for the invention disclosed in Patent Document 1. What plays an important role in knowing the symptoms of the observed person also includes a change in the facial expression of the observed person which is triggered by a question the observer asks to the observed person while observing the observed person. The invention disclosed in Patent Document 1 can not reproduce the facial expression worn by the observed person in response to the observer's question.